Test Subject Number One (and Two)
++ Tarn ++ Reknown for both its power production and military facilities, Tarn is not a place for the delicate or weak. Heavy duty industrial frametypes are used for tapping into rich energon seams near the borderlands of Protihex as well as processing rich ores into energon. Massive power plants provide energy for many of the surrounding polities. The rough terrain and frequent eletromagnetic storms that pass through the area make it a perfect place for testing out military hardware and equipment, and as such, Tarn has quickly become a center of military technology. Spire-shaped architecture in shades of purple and gray dominate the horizon against dark charcoal-gray ores, clustered in between the hills and pits of the energon mines, and the fenced off testing areas used for munitions and armor development. Lately, Tarn has gained infamy as the ignition-site of Megatron, and low-caste laborers with a Tarnian accent suffer heavy scrutiny and prejudice in other districts. Tarn may be known for largely built Cybertronians stomping around, but even this mecca of strength and power had pipes to maintain and messes to clean. Which is why the small group of disposables was here in the first place. Not too many of them; just four little differently colored but otherwise identical waste disposal bots. They were, at the moment, working on some very large pipework easily twice the height of one of their own; all of them on the SAME PIPE. A big job, perhaps. All seems to be going as usual in the bowels of Tarn tonight for the little waste management disposables. There's grime to clean off of pipes, to make sure they don't get clogged and all. But on this particular cycle, someone -else- is here, lurking around in the jungle of pipes and cables in the utility sectors. Someone YX hates and fears. But the truth of the matter is, he's been chosen for something very -special-. And thus, Blurr is working on carving a small incision in one of the larger conduits, and...what's that in his hand? Thankfully for the plans of Blurr, the disposables are pretty focused on their task. Fixing a pretty big break in the pipe -- at least one of their arm length's wide -- while cleaning up the mess it leaks out. Pretty icky and they're all filthy. They do move down the pipe, but it's slow. Blurr's pretty much in the clear! Once he's finished cutting out a small piece of the pipe, Blurr inserts and attaches the explosives within the conduit, then activates the pressure-sensitive detonator. He then pulls out a container filled with some kind of black, sticky substance not unlike the grime YX is working on cleaning up at that moment and squirts a -whole- bunch of it into the pipe. Once that's done, he quickly dashes away from the blast radius! Not long later, an alarms starts to go off, alerting the crew that another conduit had become clogged! The alarm has gone off! The world needs the cleaning crew! For great pipe-related justice! YX-939 and YX-817 both jump up in surprise at the alarm. Eagerly, they rush to the scene, leaving their two brethren to handle the other pipe. For now. Then, they're bote investigating the pipe. 817 starts mopping up; 939 feels at the pipe with a hand. Oh, it's definitely clogged. The red light is flashing. Black grime is just oozing out of it! Better get on the job! The clog only INVIGORATES the two cleaning bots! YX-817 transforms in to vehicle mode, using handy little sweeper jets and suction cups. CLEANING IT UP, BABY. YX-939's fingers turn in to tools; he starts to try to repair the break in the pipe! As soon as the grime starts to be swept away, the charges inside the conduit detonate with a BOOM. Debris and hot gases fly in every direction, sending the little disposables off their feet and probably a good distance back... The pipe bursts into flame smoking pouring out of it. Pressure and heat must've been building up behind the clog! But why hadn't the alarm gone off earlier, if that were the case? It couldn't be...sabotage, could it? The two disposables NOT in the line of fire do what any good waste disposal bot does when their brothers go down: They rush over to check on them. Oh, they're both still alive, just knocked out? Oh, then they're fine. Back to the first pipe go the two, calling in the issue with the second pipe as they do so. Otherwise? Both 939 and 817 are just... Left there. Yes, 939 and 817 aren't dead, though severely wounded from the impact of the blast. And they are left there for a while, leaking to death. Such is often the fate of a disposable, but...not this time, somehow? After the work cycle is over and the rest of the crew has returned to their humble abodes for a much-needed recharge, a medical team from Deltaran of all places shows up to collect them! As if the explosion itself hadn't been odd enough...